Abstract

The continuing development of new, highly sophisticated materials for the articulating surfaces of total hip endoprostheses involves the need for testing, not only of biocompatibility and dynamic loadability, but also of tribological properties (friction, wear, lubrication). For decades, the wear resistance of these materials has been tested in wear simulators. In consequence of the currently often widely differing test methods, the technical committee (TC 150) of the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has been concerned to develop an International Standard (ISO/FDIS 14242 1 and 2: Implants for Surgery - wear of total hip joint prostheses - on the basis of kinetic and kinematic data from gait analysis. This new standard will be the basis for ensuring the comparability of scientific data obtained from tribological. testing of total hip endoprotheses. The new hip simulator, E-SIM, presented in this paper, complies with the currently published FDIS (Final Draft International Standard), and enables testing in accordance with these specifications.